An investigation into teachers’ attitudes towards incorporating Global Englishes into learning materials for young learners in China

Abstract
There is general lack of globally-oriented English language teaching (ELT) materials (Galloway and Rose, 2017). To prepare Chinese young learners with the ability to use English in a globalized world and to offer ‘cutting-edge’ and ‘groundbreaking’ ELT to Chinese young learners, the KTP project team decided to incorporate Global Englishes into learning materials. The changes in ELT materials affect teachers. The teachers’ attitudes towards the idea of incorporating Global Englishes into learning materials is important to the KTP project team. To better implement the project, this dissertation aims to find out Chinese teachers’ attitudes towards incorporating Global Englishes into learning materials for young learners and the underpinning reasons behind their attitudes.
A pragmatic qualitative research approach was used, following a paradigm of pragmatism. (Savin-Baden and Major, 2013). Semi-structured interview was used as data collection method. Thematic analysis was used to analyze seven teachers’ interview data. The results found that most teachers held negative attitudes towards incorporate Global Englishes into learning materials. Native English speaker norms and young learners’ ages are the main reasons behind the negative attitudes. Sticking to textbooks and unfamiliarity of Global Englishes also influence teachers’ attitudes. The results highlights the teachers’ needs to use Global Englishes materials to immerse students with diver cultures.

Key words: Global Englishes; materials; Chinese young learners; teacher attitudes